Regain access to locked PDFs

Last updated on Aug 16, 2025

Learn how to regain editing access to PDFs in Adobe Acrobat.

If you own a PDF and have forgotten the permissions password used to restrict certain features, you can make the PDF editable again by printing it as an Adobe PDF. 

Open the PDF in Acrobat.

 From the global bar, select Print this file   

In the Print dialog box, select Adobe PDF as the Printer.

Select Print.

In the dialog box that opens, type a name, select a location, and then select Save.